Processors such as microprocessors are typically highly-integrated devices including multiple processor units that are manufactured on a single substrate or combination of substrates housed in a common package. The level of integration between the various processor units required to develop such a processor increases the costs and difficulty of manufacturing such processors. Moreover, this amount of integration can complicate the development of custom or application-specific processors.
Users of such processors such as systems designers often select generic processors for use in a product rather than develop a processor specific for that product. The selected processor is, therefore, often not optimized for the product and as a result can have undesirable energy (or power) utilization and/or low performance.